It hurts every day when you practice hard, but when this decathlon is over, I got the rest of my life to recuperate. Who cares how bad it hurts?
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I used to hurt myself by training all the time.
Before the decathlon I'm constantly trying to convince myself that I want to do this, that I want to take myself to that place where it's going to hurt and things are going to be tough. But that's like anything - you want to give your best.
When you start thinking you may get hurt, it's time to get out of racing.
If I never competed again, it wouldn't bother me. I don't care.
You might not feel good, and you might not want to practice, but you still go out there and practice as hard as you can.
When I lost my decathlon world record I took it like a man. I only cried for ten hours.
Seriously, I love the Olympics so much it hurts.
Most people doing the decathlon these days are quite boring, so people don't relate to them.
Every year before a big competition, I get hurt doing stuff I should not be doing. One year it was my little brother's 12th birthday. We all played hide-and-seek late at night. I climbed up a 30-foot tree, thinking he'd never catch me. I tripped and fell on one of the branches and I hit my head.
As an athlete, you are literally programmed to endure a specific amount of pain.